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COPYRIGHT DEPOSnv 



Manual Training 



By 
Frank Henry Selden 

Director of Manual Training, State Normal School, 
Valley City, N. D. 



Milwaukee, Wis. 
The American School Board Journal 



■J 

V 






l^v 



Copyright, 1909, 1910 

By 

Wm, Geo. Bruce 



TtAN3FCRREO FROM 
COfVRiGHT Office 
KAY 5SU 



CONTENTS 



Pa^e 

1. Manual Training a Science . . 5 

2. The Subjed: Matter of Manual 

Training 13 

3. The Attitude of Pupils in Shop 

Work 21 

4. Manual Training and Indu^ry . 31 

5. Methods of In^rudtion in Man- 

ual Training 45 

6. Our Duty Toward the Man- 

ual Training Movement . 59 



The following discussion of Manual Train- 
ing appeared originally in serial form 
in The American School Board Journal 



Manual Training a Science 



It is natural for us, when the country is 
stirred by some new movement, to look for the 
cause. To find the cause and recognize it is 
not always an easy matter. It is usually found 
in a combination of conditions that differ in 
their relations from those ordinarily existing, 
and therefore requires a point of view difficult 
to assume by those not thoroughly experienced 
in the new field of observation. That the in- 
troduction of tool work into the common schools 
has brought under observation a line of work 
requiring a point of view not easily gained by 
those accustomed to pass judgment upon our 
school work is easily believed because of the 
greatly varying opinions and suggestions which 
are given out as a result of those observations. 
It does not seem probable that in this new line 
of work there is no basis on which a definite 
theory can be placed. The present difficulty 
appears to be the all but universal difficulty of 
those long accustomed to a certain line of in- 
vestigation failing to grasp the whole body of 
facts bearing upon the new situation. 

So universal is the necessity for a new point 
of observation in the proper study of great ad- 
vances in civilization that, however paradoxi- 
cal it may seem, it is, nevertheless, apt to be 
5 



true that those having the inqst extensive train- 
ing for the purpose of observing and judging 
of sociological conditions are unable to give to 
the community a full and correct statement of 
the value of any radically new movement in so- 
ciety. The work of the trained investigator ap- 
pears to be to refine and diffuse after the radi- 
cal changes have produced a sufficient body of 
material to make possible a new point of obser- 
vation. 

In no line of modern development is this 
more noticeable than in the movement for a de- 
partment of school work capable of giving a 
larger value for those whose life's work is to be 
spent in some line of industry. If we will 
pause to consider what the new material is 
that is of necessity being brought into our 
schools as a result of this demand, we will have 
no reason to question this statement. 

Turn to any discussion of industrial educa- 
tion by those considered best able to lead in 
educational investigation and we find the point 
of view substantially the same. Trained to a 
degree that should give them large confidence 
in their powers, rightly credited by all with a 
breadth of learning, strong in power to think 
out to infinitesimal distinctions along lines 
with which they are familiar, it is not surpris- 
ing that they do not realize, nor should we cen- 
sure them for not realizing, that they have 
lived and thought apart from a vast body of 
leai-ning which is capable of supplying material 

6 



for not only an education for industry, but 
also material for liberal culture. 

To those that have lived long in the realm of 
books, without dealing with any line of thought 
to be tested out by actual working of solid ma- 
terials, there is another world about them un- 
seen and unfelt, and neither considered in 
their observations and search for the cause of 
present unrest, nor in shaping their plans for 
the uplift of the industrial classes. 

To make this oilier world real to those who 
hold in their hands the destiny of education is 
the burden of those who live in this other world, 
and whose lives have been such as to give them 
a view of the intellectual side of modem indus- 
try. 

"We learn to do by doing," said by some one, 
and quoted by the millions, has so impressed it- 
self upon this generation as to be taken as a 
fact, though, as ordinarily interpreted, it is lit- 
tle else than fiction. 

For untold centuries the world progressed, if 
we can call that slow and tedious advance in 
mechanical work progression, by doing; and, 
had not the increasing necessities of the in- 
creased density of population and the compar- 
ing of methods as a result of the intermingling 
of nationalities caused a change from the learn- 
ing to do by doing to the learning to do by 
ihinking, we would yet be using the mechanical 
appliances of medieval civilization. Prom the do- 
ing and doing over and over to get the "knack" 

7 



or learn to imitate, the industrial advance has 
led to the thinking out of principles making 
the doing not the learning, but the test of the 
thinking which has preceded. This gives a 
foundation for growth; for there is no limit to 
the mind's activity. The handing down from 
generation to generation of tool processes or 
trade manipulations gradually ceases to be a 
factor and more and more each generation fits 
for work by the applying of principles, disre- 
garding the details of imitation. This gives 
freedom and the era of invention is a necessary 
consequence. No child feels obliged to do just 
as his parent did. He has learned a principle 
on which the operation or process is based and 
feels free to make use of any muscular move- 
ment that does not do violence to the principle. 
The working out of these principles also elimi- 
nates many operations of the ancient craftsman 
because they are not in harmony with estab- 
lished law. 

The development of the science of working 
solid materials not only gives freedom to use a 
large variety of processes or methods, but also 
is quite as useful in eliminating many methods 
of work which have come down to us by rule 
of thumb or blind imitation, and which are 
neither efficient nor intellectual. 

This not only leads to progress in industry, 
but also to the building up of an intellectual 
side to industrial work. It is because of this 
change from imitative methods to those result- 



ing from a study of the underlying principles 
of industrial work that modern industry has 
made so rapid an advance, has become so inten- 
sive, and has made the better classes of work- 
men intelligent members of society. It is this 
side of the work that gives to it its place in 
the schools, and it is the failing to recognize 
this that makes the present discussion of man- 
ual training lead into so many vagaries and the 
work of so many schools fail to produce the de- 
sired results in the industrial efficiency of their 
pupils. 

Observing the physical side of the work, and 
not having gone' deeply into the study of the 
science underlying industrial pursuits, those 
who are in a position to do much good fail to 
give material aid because from their position of 
observation they are unable to see that there is 
a science underlying the working of solid ma- 
terials, a science which, though in its first 
stages of development, is yet sufficiently well 
defined to supply the material for our school 
shops, or that part of our school work leading 
to the industries. 

When this fact is realized and we proceed to 
base our school shop work on science instead of 
tool processes, history, art, or what-not, there 
will be no call for specialization in the grades, 
and possibly not in the high school, nor will 
there be any need to separate those expecting 
to enter industrial lines from those fitting for 
the professions, because the study of the science 

9 



of working solid materials is quite as valuable 
a part of a liberal education as the study of any- 
other science. Nor will there be any necessity 
for the introduction of matter foreign to the 
study of this science to give either interest or 
cultural value. All attempts to make of the 
school shop a study of things other than the 
science of working solid materials are abortive 
and an acknowledgment that the real subject 
matter has been overlooked. 

Our present duty is to all pull together to 
gather the necessary material for the thorough 
establishing of tltis science, to eliminate the 
unscientific, the work that is based upon imi- 
tation, and the work that leads only to discon- 
nected facts or details, to try thoroughly each 
statement of principle as to its truth, and then 
as to its use as a part of a broad foundation 
for industrial work. 

By pursuing this course we can soon have 
such a valuable science as a basis for all indus- 
trial lines that the pupil, on leaving school, 
will be as reasonably assured of success in any 
industry as he now is in other lines. He will 
not only be free to enter any one of many occu- 
pations, but also will have a breadth of founda- 
tion that will serve him well in case at some 
time circumstances necessitate his changing 
from his chosen line to a widely differing one. 

Viewed as a part of a liberal education, man- 
ual training is that branch of school work in 
which the mental activity of the pupil is tested 
by work upon solid materials. 

10 



The Subject Matter 



OF 



Manual Training 



The Subject Matter of Manual 
Training 



To know that manual training is a science is 
but the beginning of the work necessary to its 
establishing as a part of our school work. Those 
who are familiar with the history of the intro- 
duction and development of mathematics, phys- 
ics and chemistry as parts of our school course 
have a basis for comparison in anticipating the 
nature of the task before those working for a 
rational course in manual training, or mechan- 
ical science. The latter term seems to indicate 
very clearly the nature of this division of edu- 
cational work, and I think we may use it until 
a better name is found. 

Apparatus and Principles. 

The first and obvious conclusion after we 
learn that it is a science is that this material is 
in the realm of law or principle rather than in 
physical form. Although, like physics, me- 
chanical science requires for its convenient 
study a quantity of apparatus, yet, like physics, 
this apparatus is not the science, but the means 
of demonstrating it. The bench, the lathe, the 
chisel, plane and saw are not implements to be 
manipulated for the purpose of the manipula- 
tion, but pieces of apparatus to be used in cer- 

13 



tain definite ways, so that a law or principle 
may be learned or demonstrated. The work of 
the shop is not to learn a series of physical 
movements, but to make use of certain carefully 
selected movements in order to learn fundamen- 
tal principles that may be used in the determin- 
ing of a variety of movements. 

The inclined plane and balls in the physics 
laboratory are not for the purpose of giving 
skill in rolling balls, but to afford an opportu- 
nity to roll balls in such a way as to demon- 
strate the laws of falling bodies. One who 
has no knowledge of the physical sciences might 
roll balls all his days, even until he became 
more skilled in handling them than the student 
or teacher of physics; and yet never even so 
much as surmise that there are any laws of fall- 
ing bodies. In like manner the imitative me- 
chanic may use the tools of the trades all his 
life and never discover that there are any scien- 
tific principles in or back of these movements 
of tools. In fact, a careful scrutiny of men 
at work will reveal that herein lies a great deal 
of the difference between workmen, one work- 
ing blindly to "get the knack," to practice un- 
til he "catches on," to ^Tseep trying until he 
gets it," to "develop skill" and the other work- 
ing thoughtfully, making use of such principles 
as he has been able to discover. It is the prin- 
ciples worked out by the individual workmen 
and gathered into a course that give a basis 



for our manual training or mechanical science 
work. Just as the gathering together of the laws 
worked out by various students of natural phi- 
losophy has given us the science of physics. 

The Selection of Materials. 

The gathering together of this more or less 
crude material is but the start in getting the 
subject matter for a school course in mechan- 
ical science. To yield a proper return for time 
and effort and the large expense usually inci- 
dent to the teaching of shop work the material 
must be thoroughly sifted, classified and worked 
over to yield the largest possible value for the 
outlay. This process of elimination and re- 
fining has no limit so long as the race pro- 
gresses, and therefore our subject matter can 
not become a fixed quantity. All we can do is 
to be certain that we have the best obtainable 
at the present time. 

This naturally leads us to surmise that cer- 
tain lines of mechanical work will yield better 
material than others, because some lines have 
received a larger amount of intellectual effort. 
I think observation bears out this suspicion, and 
that a thorough study of modern industries will 
convince us that some occupations are much 
farther advanced than others; that some are 
well established on scientific principles, while 
others are yet in the stage of craftsmanship. 
Therefore we must find our subject matter in 
those industries that are highly developed, or, 

15 



in other words, those industries that have a basis 
in scientific tool usage rather than in imitative 
processes or craftsmanship. 

Eliminating the Unscientific. 

But this is not all. In the present state of 
development no industry is entirely scientific, 
nor is any modern industry entirely lacking in 
scientific principles. It is therefore a most 
difficult task and a matter of the most serious 
importance, after we have determined w^hat 
lines of work to make use of in our schools, to 
select from each line or trade that which is 
scientific and eliminate that which is not. 

To introduce woodwork or any other of the 
highly developed occupations may mean the 
study of scientific principles of large applica- 
tion and great value; or it may mean simply 
the making of a few articles and the establish- 
ing of habits of work that will hinder rather 
than help, should the pupil attempt work in 
any industry. 

Our subject matter cannot be selected by 
trades or groups, but must be determined by a 
rigid test to exclude that which is not scientific. 
Even after we have found that part which is 
scientific we have not done all possible, for even 
then there is opportunity for choice. Some of 
the principles m^ay be of larger value than oth- 
ers, and if we will do that which is best we 
must make use of those things of largest value. 

16 



Universality of Principles. 

In our study to determine those principles of 
largest value we discover that many of the 
principles are not confirmed in their applica- 
tion to any one trade or occupation, but that 
they are of such broad application that when 
learned in one material they are easily applied 
to other materials, even without any study in 
school of the other material. We find that al- 
though the tools and appliances used in the 
various industries differ widely, yet the princi- 
ples governing their use are all but universal. 

This relieves our school shops of all necessity 
of specialization or the use of detailed subject 
matter of special trades until these general 
principles have been learned. Such a division 
of the work is not only unnecessary, but is 
actually injurious to both the course and the 
pupil, for it tends to place in the course details 
not worth the time to learn and also to rob the 
pupil by crowding out the study of general prin- 
ciples which have a value as a part of a liberal 
education. 

Therefore our subject matter for manual 
training is that part of the knowledge of work- 
ing solid materials that is based upon scientific 
principles of the largest value, and the work of 
our school shops is the doing of such things as 
will best demonstrate and teach those principles. 



17 



The Attitude of Pupils 



IN 



Shop Work 



The Attitude of Pupils 



In any line of work, either in school or out, 
the attitude of the worker has much to do with 
the result. Although this may be of no more 
consequence in manual training than in other 
branches, so greatly do the pupils vary in their 
reasons for taking up this work and in their 
attitude towards it, that the matter of attitude 
becomes an element of chief importance. It 
not only has much to do with the methods of 
instruction, but also with the selection of ma- 
terial; the position of the branch in the course 
and its rank as a factor of a liberal education. 
The attitude of the pupil may determine wheth- 
er the shop work is a part of a well organized 
course giving a liberal education or a ''patch 
on an over-crowded curriculum.'^ 

What Should He Think About? 

As a pupil takes up his plane or other tool, 
or a bit of material, what should he be think- 
ing about? This may appear to be a trivial 
question. The answers to it vary greatly as 
given by different instructors. One pupil re- 
ceives a bit of wood and at once a vision of a 
rule, plant stick, or other object appears. An- 
other pupil receives a similar piece and at 
once the word "wood" is suggested. This is 

21 



followed by visions of lumber piles and per- 
haps trees. Such a train of thought may con- 
tinue until the pupil is day-dreaming of some 
trip to the woods. It may recall the pleasures 
of tree-climbing until the piece of material in 
his hands, tools, bench and school shop are all 
forgotten and he is mentally in the top of some 
tree. Another pupil with his piece of wood in 
hand thinks neither of wood, lumber, trees or 
plant stick, but recalls some similar task and 
begins to plan how he may use what he learned 
in the former task in accomplishing this one. 
I venture to say that if we could read the 
minds of the pupils in some manual training 
classes, we would find some in trees, some us- 
ing their plant sticks in flower gardens, and 
very few, if any, actually engaged in the 
thoughtful use of the tools required to make 
the desired piece. 

Are these the correct places for their minds? 
Are these pupils, whose minds are away from 
the bench, gaining what they ought from the 
work? Perhaps some will hold the opinion that 
the manual training class is the place in which 
pupils are to proceed to the ends of the earth 
while their hands are absent-mindedly pushing 
a file or drawing a spoke shave. If this is the 
proper attitude, then what is the actual value 
of the tool work? Why are the pupils given 
tools at all? 



22 



Movements Should Be Definitely Directed. 

The merest novice in physical culture would 
not expect to get results worth while by mus- 
cular movements not definitely directed. Can 
we expect in the work shop to get intellectual 
results from such movements? We certainly 
do not consider a movement of the hand or 
arm definitely directed, when the thought is 
only to get something done. To get something 
done may lead to the employment of another 
person to do it. The boy who wants a plant 
stick may get it by stealing, buying it or by 
hiring some one to make it, or by loafing about 
until he is given one. Any of these methods 
may get the plant stick. It is evident that if he 
is to make the stick, another element is essen- 
tial and that element is the method of mak- 
ing; but to recognize that there is this other 
step is not all. A boy may want the object, 
recognize that work is necessary, and that it is 
all to a good purpose, and yet fail entirely to 
get the intellectual benefit from the muscular 
movements. He must go a step further and 
recognize the fact that there is a definite way 
in which to proceed, and that only by use of 
these definite methods can he get the best re- 
sults in grade work and time. There is yet an- 
other step: He must recognize the fact that 
these definite things are essential and must be 
learned, not gained by imitation. They must 
be to him real intellectual activities, not mus- 

23 



cular movements copied from another. They 
must be things for his mind to do, not mus- 
cular reactions for his hands and arms only. 
When this step is taken the shop work ceases 
to be so largely a physical activity, the physi- 
cal side being akin to the chalk, blackboard and 
muscular part of working a problem. 

Every Movement a Victory. 

The mind is no longer a "silent partner" in 
the work, but is actively planning and direct- 
ing each movement; it ceases to look for oper- 
ations to be imitated, reasoning out from what 
has been learned, methods applicable to the 
present task. The pupil ceases to ask how, rath- 
er asking why. This gives to every task a 
definite intellectual content, rendering the pu- 
pil capable of taking an invoice of each day's 
recitation, and instead of the dead subject of 
tool operations, requiring a taboret to get them 
done, the work becomes full of life. Every 
movement of a tool is a victory in the demon- 
strating of some principle in which the pupil 
has become deeply interested. He no longer 
thinks of the object, but of the thing he is 
learning, for he realizes that there is something 
to learn and that day by day he is making 
definite progress and gaining in ability to do 
really difficult work. 

Desire for Power a Controlling Force. 

Emerson tells us, "Life is a search after 
power." Although each of us might choose 

24 



to express this idea in a different form, yet 
we all recognize that the great moving force 
in all human activity is a desire for power, not 
the use of power to oppress, not the use of 
power to plunder, not the use of power to gath- 
er everything into one's own storehouses, but 
the realization of power within. The power 
will be used in different ways by different peo- 
ple, according to their moral control, or train- 
ing, but the fundamental desire for a realiza- 
tion of power is the same in all. 

We must not fail to distinguish between the 
condition of possessing power that is not real- 
ized, a false belief in the possession of power 
and the actual possession of power which is 
fully and definitely realized. Herein lies one 
of the chief values of shop work when properly 
taught, for in few, if in any other subjects, is it 
possible to give such exact tests for the purpose 
of causing a correct estimation and realization 
of the pupil's strength and growth from day to 
day. 

Not only should the teacher strive to gain 
this attitude on the part of the pupil, but 
realizing the harm which may come from a 
false estimate of one's capabilities, no effort 
should be spared to so arrange the work that a 
true estimate will be gained. A false estimate 
may be established and pupils may be made to 
believe that they are learning and accomplish- 
ing that which is building them up in power 

25 



to do the world's work, but such a false esti- 
mate is sure to be discovered should the pupil 
attempt the practical application of his ac- 
quisitions. 

A Change in Methods. 
That such has been the case in some sections 
is evident from the reports of pupils failing to 
"make good" after leaving school. This has 
caused a change in the courses in some schools 
with a change in the attitude of the pupils. 
The impossibility of continuing to gain the 
attitude of study, because of former pupils fail- 
ing to use successfully their school shop train- 
ing, leads to various expedients to continue an 
interest which has lost its vitalizing force and 
the shop becomes a place to do or study a va- 
riety of things not capable of the exact tests, 
and knowledge for which the manual training- 
schools were originally established. 

Let Us Acknowledge Our Failure. 

Is it not better to frankly acknowledge our 
failure to teach correctly the things we have 
attempted and begin sifting and improving 
the subject matter until we can teach funda- 
mental principles of industrial work, striving 
for an attitude of study and desire for growth 
on the part of the pupils, rather than to bring 
in matters foreign to the manual training 
work and gain a false interest in the shops of 
the regular schools, making necessary the es- 
tablishing of variously named schools to give 

26 



the advantages that, with properly taught shop 
classes, could easily be given in the regular 
schools ? 

To secure this attitude of study on the part 
of the pupil, should be a controlling factor in 
the organization and teaching of the shop 
work. It should determine the first lesson and 
make it of such a nature that the pupil will 
see in the shop work a means of gaining power 
and fix the mental attitude not upon acquisi 
tion of material things, but upon the increase 
of power which results from a definite realiza- 
tion that every stroke of the plane means not 
alone a truer surface, but increased power to 
true a surface; that every nail driven means 
not alone a bit of work completed, but an in- 
crease of power to do work. When finally the 
surface is trued, the attitude should be not that 
of a disagreeable task done for the purpose of 
a true surface or a plant stick, but a realiza- 
tion of power gained, and a wish for more sur- 
faces to true. 

The warrior who sat down and cried for 
more worlds to conquer, had simply taken a 
course on a large scale in the gaining of power. 
I am not in sympathy with the subject matter 
of his course, but I do admire his attitude to- 
wards his work. Give to the boy or girl the 
manual training work with hammer and saw, 
instead of sword and spear, so that they will 
gain the same attitude because of each day hav- 

27 



ing a definite realization of increasing power, 
and there will be no lack of properly qualified 
hands to do the world's work, either mechanical 
or professional. Degrade the work by making it 
a task for a prize, whether it be a card, a medal 
or a taboret, and your pupils will go out into 
the activities of life, not looking for oppor- 
tunities to use their strength, but inquiring by 
what means they can easiest get a taboret. 



Manual Training 



AND 



Industry 



Manual Training and Industry 



We come now to a very important part of 
the manual training problem, for, although 
manual training is believed by many to be 
equal in rank, as a factor of a liberal educa- 
tion, to any of the old line subjects, yet in the 
final tests it will undoubtedly stand because 
of its large industrial worth, or fall because 
it does not demonstrate its special value for 
those who engage in some branch of manufac- 
turing. It is well, therefore, to consider care- 
fully each detail of the work that we may give 
to the school shop the largest possible indus- 
trial value consistent with this branch being 
a part of a course yielding a liberal education. 
We may discover that when the work is prop- 
erly taught there will be no conflict between the 
industrial and educational values. 

In developing a branch that differs in so 
many ways from those considered as fixed sub- 
jects of our school course, it is not easy to 
determine what its scope shall be to yield the 
results desired. In fact there is not yet a 
unanimous agreement as to what ought to re- 
sult from the teaching of shop work in the 
public schools. At the present time we may 
profitably consider both that which is needed 
to fit the pupils to do the work of a tradesman 

31 



as at present carried on and also that which 
will best lead towards ideal efficiency and the 
highest type of manhood and citizenship. 

Two Factors Necessary. 

Two factors are necessary for the highest 
type of workrnan aside from the broader quali- 
fication of general intelligence. The first is 
competency to do the work. The second factor, 
often of quite as much importance as the first, 
is adaptability, the power by which the work- 
man is able to change employment with a min- 
imum of loss, both to himself and to his em- 
ployer. This change may be for the purpose of 
developing a new line of work without change 
of employer, or it may be a change from one 
establishment to another. The first factor may 
result from long experience with small intel- 
lectual activity. The latter can come only 
through a thorough knowledge of the princi- 
ples common to a variety of occupations. 

Industrial education cannot wait for the de- 
velopment of some theory, but must show some 
results worth while as the theories are being 
worked out. Neither can we expect the public 
to tolerate experimenting, based only on the 
theories developed apart from the actual activi- 
ties of occupational life. We should, however, 
aim not simply at the production of a class of 
workmen on the level of present industrial life, 
but ought rather to strive for the advancement 
of the work to the best system of production, 

32 



and the advancement of the worker to the larg- 
est efficiency and the highest type of workman. 

Great Diversity of Industries. 

We may gain information to guide us in 
planning our new line of school work by a study 
of industrial life. Such an investigation leads 
at once to the observation that our industries 
comprise an extremely wide range of activities. 
It is therefore necessary to decide whether a 
pupil should be fitted for only one industry or 
given a training that will make possible the 
successful entering of any of a large class of 
industries. 

Should we attempt to fit for a single indus- 
try, we meet the very serious difficulty of va- 
rious practices in the identical same line of 
work. Many illustrations can be given to 
prove this point. The following statement in 
a technical periodical* is sufficient: "It is al- 
ways interesting to note the various ways in 
which the same class of material is handled 
in different shops. Of course, this difference 
is sometimes a case of necessity rather than 
choice, as a shop is often originally planned 
and equipped for an entirely different class of 
work than that for which it is finally used, but 
even where shops have been fitted up expressly 
for certain similar lines of work, the divergence 
in methods or tools is often very marked." This 
variety in methods in the same industry as 
well as the very great diversity of industries, 

"Machinery, New York, August, 1909, page 921. 
3 33 



is a factor to be reckoned with in every com- 
munity attempting any sort of specialization 
in the schools. So evident is this multiplicity 
of trades and occupations that it seems to us 
that those who believe the schools can fit for 
individual trades have the burden of proof on 
their hands, and until there is reasonable proof 
that the communities can be generally accom- 
modated by such schools, we may reasonably 
assume that the public schools cannot develop 
a line of trade schools sufficiently compre- 
hensive and sufficiently diversified to accom- 
modate the public as a whole. 

Even if by application of the rule of the 
greatest good to the greatest number, we suc- 
ceed in establishing trade schools in various 
communities, each accomanodating the leading 
occupations of its community or city, are we 
doing the best for the community as a whole? 
Can any division of our population receive the 
best that is their due if the boys and girls are 
born to an occupation as must necessarily fol- 
low such a community specialization? 

Two T5^es of Workmen. 

A further evidence of this variety in shop de- 
tail and the inefficiency of simple trade instruc- 
tion is shown by the different degrees of success 
met with by men as they move from one shop 
to another. Some change from place to plac6» 
each time advancing in their work; others, on 
leaving the shop where they first learned their 
34 



work or trade, find themselves unable to meet 
the conditions of the new place. They are 
obliged to begin again, making little use of 
their first training. A thorough study of these 
types of workmen reveals that one has been ever 
a student of principles, the other has worked 
just as hard learning tool manipulations and 
may be fairly capable of studying the work in 
the other manner, if properly directed. Shall 
the school courses be organized on the plan of 
actual shop life, permitting each pupil to pro- 
gress under instruction similar to that of actual 
apprenticeship training, teaching tool manip- 
ulations and processes with only the exceptional 
pupil gaining a knowledge of principles? Or, 
is the work to be made a real school subject 
and handled according to well established peda- 
gogical laws so that every pupil will be led 
into the broader field of trade work? 

In determining the name and character of 
our schools, we must not overlook the fact that 
a school may be called a trade school and yet 
do much more than teach a trade or a certain 
number of trades, and also that a school may 
be named the very opposite of a trade school 
and yet teach only trade manipulations of very 
limited value. 

School Shops Should Not Drill for Skill. 

To treat the shop work of the school as 
craftsmanship, drilling for skill in some special 
line, or in certain selected tool manipulations, 

35 



whether from one trade or from several trades, 
is to turn out a class of pupils of more or less 
efficiency with but a small percentage capable 
of adapting themselves to a sufficiently wide 
range of occupations to insure anything above 
ordinary success, and this is now gained by 
a large number of boys without the advantages 
of a mechanical school. Unless the school shops 
can show returns exceeding, to a considerable 
extent, the ordinary conditions of training, 
there will be great difficulty in sustaining them 
at public expense. That pupils may receive 
some advantages because of opportunities to 
learn drawing, mathematics, etc., and because 
of this, show themselves superior to the or- 
dinary shop apprentice, is no excuse for not 
giving the best possible shop training. 

In our enthusiasm, we ought not to overlook 
the fact that there are several things that may 
increase the standing of the young mechanic. 
If a boy who has completed a certain course 
goes into a factory and is advanced over boys 
who have had substantially no schooling, it 
does not prove that every branch of the course 
has been what it ought to have been, or even 
helpful. In so large a number of subjects, the 
sum total may be helpful while some of the 
factors are decidedly harmful. It is not a 
question of making one boy better than another, 
but rather of making each boy the best pos- 
sible for the time and expense at command. 

36 



Strive for the Larger Things. 

It therefore appears that if the school shop 
is to give results to warrant its cost, it must 
turn to the larger successes of trade life, a 
large percentage of those who pursue its courses. 
This does not mean that they are to train for 
foremen, superintendents, or other executive 
positions, but that they are to give to a large 
percentage of their pupils such a training as 
will lead them to a thorough knowledge of the 
principles underlying the every day details of 
their work, and because of this, to use a high 
degree of intelligence in their common occu- 
pations. This does not mean that the special 
aim of the manual training school is to make 
of the boy an intelligent citizen. This is al- 
ready accomplished by the old line subjects. 
The special feature to be added by this new line 
of school work is the making of his daily la- 
bors such as will require and continually build 
up his intellectual activities. This necessitates 
not simply the teaching of the boy to do a cer- 
tain line of work, but rather the teaching him 
to do his work in such a manner as will cause 
a large use of his mind and consequent growth 
of intelligence. 

Shop work in school is not so much for the 
purpose of teaching tool work as for the pur- 
pose of improving the intellectual and manhood 
factors in the work. In one sense, its purpose 
is similar to that of teaching literature. That 

37 



is taught not for the purpose of teaching read- 
ing, but for the purpose of getting out of read- 
ing that which will build up the larger and 
higher intellectual activities. Shop work should 
be taught not simply to make the pupils work, 
but for the purpose of getting out of work the 
highest and noblest that is possible. 

Make the Workmen Intellectual. 

We must not forget that a higher grade of 
intelligence can be maintained only by making 
the work of a more intellectual nature. To at- 
tempt to lift the workman by patching on to 
his education a little superficial knowledge of 
various outside lines of "eiilture," or by teach- 
ing him a lot of details in his own trade, which 
he is not likely to use, while leaving him to do 
his daily tasks by blind imitation and the mus- 
cular reactions which result from skill alone, 
is to fail in our efforts to elevate the tone of in- 
dustrial life; for, unless we train the workman 
so that his mind is built up by the work on 
which he is daily engaged, his power to benefit 
by the extraneous training is sooner or later 
lost because of the impossibility of a mind more 
or less dormant through the active working 
hours continuing to respond to outside influ- 
ences. 

Industrial education should aim to make the 
task of the industrial worker as highly intel- 
lectual as possible, replacing in a continually 
greater degree, "rule of thumb" and imitative 

38 



methods by the highly developed scientific 
methods of modern mechanical science. It 
should mean not simply more boys entering in- 
dustrial lines, but also a larger intelligence in 
industrial work. It should mean a constantly 
increasing number of workmen that put inde- 
pendent intellectual activity behind the routine 
and muscle of their daily tasks. 

Makes Labor Honorable. 
If the work of the tradesman is given the 
intellectual basis which it ought to have, there 
will be no lack of those to enter these lines, for 
such a foundation for the work must necessarily 
give it a standing and respect before all that 
will tend to make honorable the entering upon 
the life of a scientific worker in materials. To say 
that all work is honorable and try to create a re- 
spect for labor by having pupils perform certain 
tasks having some of the characteristics of daily 
toil is only to burlesque the whole matter. Take 
away from the commonly called lowly occupa- 
tions of mankind, the long hours, the continued 
routine, the special conditions under which the 
laborer exists and the necessity for labor and 
they cease to be lowly occupations. None of 
these conditions of the laborer are possible in 
any sort of a free public educational institu- 
tion. On the other hand, make the laborer 
a student of the laws governing his work, cause 
the whole community to realize that there is 
a foundation in law capable of being treated 

39 



as a science for all the laborer does and that 
he actually knows this science and is governed 
by it in his daily work, and he becomes a re- 
spected member of society because the intel- 
lectual obscures the physical. Allow the in- 
tellectual to subside and the physical to predom- 
inate and that man enters again the ranks of 
the "toilers." Kespect is of the mind and its 
appreciation is for that which shows mental 
power. 

Not a "Fad." 

This we believe is the ideal aim of shop work 
at public expense. If so, it is neither a fad nor 
a patch upon the public curriculum, but the 
legitimate result of that advance in mechanical 
work which has changed the working of solid 
materials from cut and try and imitative meth- 
ods to those based upon scientific principles. It 
is not the forcing into the schools of matter out- 
side the legitimate lines of public school work, 
but rather the reaching out of the schools for 
a new and advanced line of intellectual activity 
to give to the curriculum a yet stronger and 
more efficient means of supplying to all a 
liberal education. 

And why may not this be the aim of this 
new branch of school work? No shadow of 
evidence exists showing that by striving for the 
larger values we will lose any of the lesser ad- 
vantages. No more equipment is required, no 



longer hours are needed, no less interest in the 
work and no less usefulness on leaving school. 
The hoy or girl that has learned to put in- 
telligence into the common tasks of life can do 
them quite as quickly and as well-we do not 
ueed to argue that we can do them^ better — 
while over and above all they can live a bet- 
ter life as a common workman, and, should 
opportunity offer, they are ready to do some- 
thing larger for the benefit of themselves 
and the coromunity that fitted them broad- 
ly for a life's work. 



41 



Methods of Instruction 



IN 



Manual Training 



Methods of Instruction 



Following our inquiry in regard to the nature 
of manual training, the subject matter of in- 
struction, the attitude of the pupil in the class- 
room, and the relation of manual training work 
t:> the industrial world, naturally arises the ques- 
tion of actual classroom methods in such a sys- 
tem of manual training. It is not necessary 
that at this time we enter into a consideration 
of the details of classroom practice, but rather 
touch upon some of the more important fea- 
tures that distinguish scientific manual train- 
ing or mechanical science from that of trade 
instruction or craftsmanship. 

To those who look upon the shop work as 
necessarily a sort of recreation period, the teach- 
ing of a science with the pupils hard at v7ork 
studying a text book and working to demonstrate 
principles, seems an impossibility, yet this is 
what actually takes place where scientific man- 
ual training is properly taught. Methods that 
will give this result are not so difficult as some 
suppose, as has been demonstrated. 

That the attitude of the teachers and their 
knowledge of the work has much to do with the 
methods of instruction is too well understood 
by all school people to require any argument. 
We will assume that the instructor is fully pre- 
45 



pared and thoroughly in earnest. That such 
instructors cannot be found at present . for all 
schools need not be considered in this connec- 
tion. 

Lessons Should Be Definite. 

The first thing that the pupil is to take away 
with him is a definite feeling that he has learned 
something. Therefore the first lesson should be 
planned with a definite idea in it that is within 
the reach of the pupil. The instructor must 
ever keep in mind that the thing he is teaching 
is not history, botany, physics or even mechan- 
ical engineering, but the science of working 
solid materials, and must therefore use such 
methods as will draw upon this science for the 
ideas to be taught. This does not hinder such 
a consideration and correlation of other branches 
as may be gathered around the mechanical 
science with it as a center and basis for the 
whole. 

The giving of this definite idea in the first 
lesson necessarily compels a very careful plan- 
ning of the lesson, not only to be sure that the 
idea is in the lesson, but also that the pupil will 
actually get the idea instead of doing the work 
by blind imitation of certain muscular move- 
ments. This difiiculty is akin to that of getting 
the pupil to understand a rule in mathematics, 
a proposition in geometry or a law in physics 
rather than merely committing the words by rote. 
The instruction of the shop, however, has a 
great advantage over that of any other branch, 

46 



beca"use it is possible here to make the dem- 
onstration so vivid that an attempt to do the 
work by blind imitation is sure not only to be 
discovered by the instructor, but also to be 
realized by the pupil to such an extent as will 
compel a study and understanding of the idea 
behind the mov^ement of hand or tool. There- 
fore one of the most important things is to 
start out in a manner to gain this study of the 
principles to avoid the doing of the work by 
imitation. 

Limit of Accuracy. 

Questioning should be the plan of instruc- 
tion rather than telling. Working for a knowl- 
edge of the principles rather than grade of 
work should be the aim. The degree of accu- 
racy to be required will then be determined by 
whether the point being taught is well under- 
stood. To reach a close measurement or to keep 
the corners and edges sharp is not a matter of 
skill but of knowledge of principles. To have 
a certain fraction of an inch as a standard to 
work to is certain to defeat the purpose of the 
work, for this leads the pupil to employ any 
method that will bring the material within the 
allowed variations. To have no standard other 
than the demonstrating of the principle must 
necessarily result in a large percentage of the 
work being brought to a much higher degree 
of perfection than it would be safe to place as 
an arbitrary limit, at the same time leaving an 
opportunity for the passing of particular pieces 

47 



that for special reasons are not as 'accurate as 
usually required. It is the same in principle as 
expecting absolute accuracy in arithmetic with 
the occasional accepting of a problem in which 
all the chief operations and principles are cor- 
rect but the answer out because of a slight error 
in a minor operation. That this method in shop 
worli does actually result in a high degree of 
accuracy is evidenced by the fact that teachers 
using the set standard of a certain fraction of 
an inch are unable to understand how the pupils 
in scientific manual training work to such close 
limits. 

Again, this standard of excellence is not to 
be determined and attained by a continued 
criticising and compelling of the pupil to go 
over and over his work correcting little errors 
pointed out by the instructor, but rather it must 
be attained by a definite working to a satis- 
factory standard by the application of the prin- 
ciples taught. It must be the direct and legiti- 
mate result of the application of the principles 
without the aid of the instructor in pointing 
out small variations. 

A shop method that permits a pupil to hesi- 
tatingly work first to an approximate size and 
then rework and rework, gradually approaching 
the line, is as pernicious in the shop as the writ- 
ing of an answer to a problem in arithmetic 
and then guessing and trying to fill in the 
various operations. 

The principle should be understood as a re- 

48 



suit of a step by step progress from the known 
to tlie unknown, and the result in the shop 
should be as certain and direct as the solving 
of a problem in mathematics. There must also 
be this advantage in the shop work, i. e., each 
problem must be so graded and adapted to the 
pupil that a reasonable effort will result in a 
correct solution. This of course excludes from 
the shop all wild, half thought out schemes of 
the pupils. In fact, proper methods of shop 
work will result in the pupil asking advice of 
the instructor for the purpose of selecting a 
project that will be of large value in what it 
will teach rather than in filling some material 
want. Probably in no other feature of the shop 
work is it so difficult for the layman to distin- 
guish between that which tends to scientific 
manual training and that which does not as in 
the larger problems or projects. 

The "Cant's." 
The boy who "can't" or knows he "can't" 
should be taken in hand and made to see so 
clearly that he can if he will study his text, that 
he will realize his failure is his own fault be- 
cause of not studying. If the teacher has a prop- 
er knowledge of the work and methods of teach- 
ing, the "can't's" will rapidly vanish, for as the 
scientific treatment of the work reduces the 
matter of skill to almost a negligible quantity, 
success becomes almost solely a matter of study 
and mental activity, and therefore every pupil 

4 49 



having normal mental power is with reasonable 
application able to succeed. This is not saying 
that all pupils will attain the same grade of 
work, but rather that all will attain a successful 
minimum. Further, this minimum need never 
be below a thoroughly well finished problem, and 
cannot be if the instructor use such methods 
as compel the learning of the principles and 
their definite application to each problem. 

Demonstrations. 

The method of presenting the instruction is 
a matter of chief importance. In the teaching 
of scientific manual training there should never 
be given a demonstration for a whole class. 
The need for class demonstration can come only 
from a wrong attitude towards the work on the 
part of both teacher and pupil. After the pupil 
has studied the text, done all in his power to 
learn it and apply it, he may fail to grasp some 
point. It is then the duty of the teacher to find 
out exactly what is lacking and by some means 
help the pupil out. This may often be done by 
questioning on the text. Sometimes additional 
directions may be given orally. Sometimes 
the teacher may answer the definite question of 
the pupil by the use of a tool. It is not neces- 
sary for me to argue that this answering of a 
definite question is essentially different from a 
demonstration lesson, although a part of the 
very same operation may be performed. In one 
case the pupil is looking for something to imi- 

50 



tate, in the other he is thinking and looking 
for an idea to complete his thought. 

The class demonstration continually weakens 
the pupil by increasing his dependence on an- 
other. The text book and explanation method 
increases continually the pupiFs strength by 
making him capable of doing without any per- 
sonal assistance. In fact, as has been proven 
by experience, he soon learns to reason out step 
by step from what he knows difficult problems 
that are not answered even in the text. This 
continued through a fair school course gives 
the pupil power, on leaving school, to enter any 
of a large number of industries and with' little 
or no assistance or "showing" reason out the 
needed new processes from the principles he has 
as his stock in trade. If he finds his stock too 
limited or incomplete in some detail, he has 
learned to go to books for help and will likely 
have no difficulty in finding a book that will 
give him the needed assistance. 

The Nature of the Text. 

If so much is to be gained from the study of 
mechanical science by the use of a text, it is 
evident that the character of the text is of great 
importance. As the chief value of the text is 
not to give information but to lead to general- 
izations and a knowledge of principles, it is 
essential that the text be such a carefully and 
systematically planned course as will have this 
result. For this reason the basing of the work 

51 



on reference books, or the use of methods or 
projects that require a large use of random 
references, is certain to cause a failure to get 
the intellectual out of the work. If the pupil 
is allowed to plan his work and carry it for- 
ward by use of reference works or by the assist- 
ance of the instructor he must necessarily base 
his course on the project, and this in turn neces- 
sitates the steps in the project determining the 
order of study and the getting of something 
done the ultimate aim. There is therefore no 
power to cause the pupil to study a single prin- 
ciple underlying the work he is doing. All he 
requires and all he will get is a process or so 
much of a process as he needs on his project. 
This bit of detail or information is not neces- 
sarily connected with anything that precedes 
or follows, and therefore having no logical con- 
nection with anything is soon forgotten. The 
result is that definite progress is not assured 
and the completion of such a course no evidence 
of ability to handle new problems. It is not 
certain that the pupil can repeat the very prob- 
lems worked out in his school course, for each 
detail having been learned for immediate use 
and not connected by any underlying principles 
with other details is often forgotten as soon as 
used, so that at the end of the course the only 
things noticeable that the pupil carries away 
from the school is a poorly executed problem 
and a large over-estimate of his knowledge of 
mechanical work. The writer has often seen 

52 



this demonstrated by pupils who have applied 
to him for advanced credit after completing a 
part or all of the work at well known institu- 
tions. It may be found that this method of 
class demonstration and the attempt to complete 
a course in school shop work by basing the in- 
struction on the project instead of following 
definitely planned courses by the use of regular 
texts is the chief reason why so many pupils 
from the manual training schools fail to make 
good in industry. This naturally leads to the 
demand for other types of schools for the teach- 
ing of industrial work. If the root of the dif- 
ficulty is in the methods of instruction em- 
ployed in the common schools, would it not be 
wise to first improve these methods before going 
to the large expense of establishing a separate 
class of schools? 

Failures in Old-Line Methods. 

The writer has found much evidence of the 
failure of the old-line methods, not only in his 
work with pupils in the grades and in high 
school, but also with those who have been pre- 
pared by well known institutions as teachers of 
manual training. These people, graduates of 
what are supposed to be our best schools, were 
found to be unable to perform in a proper man- 
ner many of the elementary tool operations. On 
taking up scientific manual training they have 
confessed that their former course has somehow 
failed to provide them with the information, but 

53 



that until actually studying the scientific prin- 
ciples of working materials they did not realize 
that their first course was so defective. The 
comparison made by some of these pupils, those 
ranking high in their credits in old-line work, 
would be considered gross exaggerations by those 
not familiar with the two systems of work. 

Lack of an Established Standard. 

There can be no question but that the most 
serious difficulty at present in the building up 
of a course in school shop work and the estab- 
lishing of proper methods of shop instruction 
is the lack of proper and well understood stand- 
ards with which to compare results. The work 
is established in a school or possibly in an entire 
school system and the work done is thought to 
be ideal. Teachers and pupils are delighted. 
Large and showy projects are made and pupils, 
teachers and parents believe that wonders have 
been accomplished. Eventually some of the 
pupils find employment in shops or factories 
and the school shop work is credited with the 
success. No careful analysis is made to deter- 
mine how much these boys owe to their tool 
work in school nor to determine what part of 
the work is responsible for the results. Seldom 
if ever are the methods of school shop work and 
the methods of instruction definitely criticised, 
and last but not least the fact that boys have 
entered shops and factories in large numbers 
and have met with success without any school 

54 



shop work is overlooked. The determining of a 
standard for comparison will aid greatly in 
answering the question : Are the methods in use 
in the school shops actually producing results 
with the pupils that specially need this work? 
There is another question that has not yet been 
satisfactorily answered in many sections: Are 
the results of a permanent character, or only 
those contingent upon the work being new and 
appealing to a superficial interest by its novelty? 

Spoiling Work 

Another method peculiar to scientific manual 
training is the conducting of the class work so 
that seldom a piece is spoiled. Only in a very 
exceptional case is any pupil given a duplicate 
piece of material. This tends to a careful plan- 
ning of work, care and system in the work, and 
the largest possible thought factor in every de- 
tail. It is the logical sequence of teaching prin- 
ciples which proceed from the known to the un- 
known by such steps as the pupil is able to take 
with certainty, and therefore there is little op- 
portunity for spoiled projects or spoiled pieces of 
even small size. This avoiding of spoiled work 
is not to be accomplished by having the pupil 
lay aside his regular work from time to time and 
practice the various operations on extra material. 
With the study of principles rather than pro- 
cesses there is really nothing to practice, for if 
the principle is well understood the result is 
correct the first time, if it is not understood the 

55 



proper course to pursue is to get an under- 
standing of it before attempting to apply it in 
the working of the material. 

Although this avoids waste of material and 
reduces to a considerable degree the expense 
of carrying on the shop work, yet its chief value 
is in the constant increase in the power and con- 
fidence of the pupil that naturally follows the 
doing of tasks each more and more difficult and 
yet without any failures. 

For pupils to demonstrate to themselves by 
the use of properly graded shop work that they 
can by proper study and effort do new and dif- 
ficult tasks with a certainty that they will suc- 
ceed is one of the largest possible benefits that 
can come from any sort of school or educational 
work. Is it not therefore reasonable to place a 
very high value on methods that will yield this 
return and on a system of work that readily 
affords an opportunity for such methods? 



56 



Our Duty Toward 

the Manual 
Training Movement 



Our Duty Toward the Movement 



This series of articles would be incomplete 
were they to close without pointing out some 
ways in which this movement may be aided by 
those interested in the welfare of our educa- 
tional system and the children. It is not an 
easy task to point out what is needed to be 
done without noticing some of the deficiencies 
of) the work as at present given in our leading 
schools. As we have worked and observed the 
work of others almost since the first manual 
training schools were established, we have been 
unwillingly forced to the conclusion that the 
greatest harm, done to the cause is the with- 
holding of just criticisms for fear that some 
one would be led to believe that the whole man- 
ual training idea is wrong. To such an extent 
has this feeling prevailed that even those striv- 
ing diligently for the right have been forced to 
yield to improper methods of work because of 
the popularity of superficial and showy attempts 
by others to get results that would appeal to 
those having no knowledge or understanding of 
the larger values of manual training work. 

In our criticisms and attempts to point out 
ways and means of aiding this movement, it 
must not be understood that we believe no good 
has yet come from the various attempts at 

59 



school shopwork. "The past has taught its les- 
son, the present has its duty, the future its 
hope," and without taking space to review what 
has been done, let us consider our duty at the 
present, not as passive recipients of the good 
the work is doing, but as factors in advancing 
this branch of school work. This subject, 
though well enough established to leave little 
doubt of its continuance as a part of the school 
courses, is yet new and immature when com- 
pared with the possibilities before it, and there- 
fore has a claim on all for whatever aid is in 
their power to give. 

Our Chief Difficulty. 

Perhaps our chief difficulty lies in placing too 
much emphasis on what has been accomplished, 
for as we review the long list of benefits al- 
ready received, we feel that our duty to the 
movement has been discharged and that now all 
we have to do is to continue along present lines, 
or, in other words, we fail to realize that we 
are dealing with a new and most powerful fac- 
tor that is to develop into one of the most im- 
portant factors in a system providing a liberal 
education. 

Because of our experience with other subjects 
of the school course we make use of a false 
standard and fail to realize how much more 
can be accomplished by this new subject. We 
rest content, feeling that its limit has been 
reached when in reality the results obtained are 

60 



insignificant compared with what should be ac- 
complished. No doubt this lack of a proper 
standard for comparison is the cause of much 
of the slackness in the administration of this 
part of our school work. 

Should we criticise the work in any other 
subject of the school course, we would judge it 
as to whether it taught the thing intended or 
not and we would permit no indefinite guessing 
as to what was to be taught. If we were to 
pass judgment on the value of a composition on 
American history, we would not ignore the er- 
rors in historical facts and call the paper ex- 
cellent because the writer had made a fine ap- 
pearing paper by the aid of a writing machine, 
nor would we condemn a historical paper of a 
high order because the writing was only ordi- 
nary. 

Yet we see shop work judged excellent be- 
cause the pupil, or teacher, selected an artistic 
design, although the construction is of an ex- 
tremely poor quality and lacking in all the more 
valuable features of manual training. We also 
see other work condemned because the design is 
not the most replete with curves and surface 
decoration, though it shows not only excellent 
workmanship, but also demonstrates large 
growth in both mechanical efficiency and intel- 
lectual power. To such an extent is the work 
based on design and superficial appearance in 
ona of the most noted manual training schools 

61 



of this country that the advance in knowledge 
of working materials is all but a negligible 
quantity throughout the course, except with 
such few pupils as have a sufficiently large 
natural ability to dig out these principles in 
addition to any requirements of the school. In 
fact, the only pupils that appear to be advanced 
to any noticeable degree in the line of mechan- 
ical work, or to receive any intellectual growth 
from the use of tools, are those who would "dig 
out a trade" without a teacher if given tools 
and a place for work. Are we doing our duty 
by the pupils and the taxpayers when we estab- 
lish expensive manual training schools and al- 
low such methods of work .as permit the shops 
and mechanical courses to be only passive ele- 
ments in the school work? 

Not Finding Fault 
This is not finding fault with good design or 
art, but as no one has yet shown any reason 
whatever why we cannot have these things to- 
gether with the learning of the things for which 
manual training was established, it seems that 
some one has a serious duty to perform when 
we see schools in which various other lines of 
work have largely or entirely displaced the 
manual training work, although making use of 
the forms and tools properly belonging to the 
manual training. One does not need to visit 
many leading manual training schools to find, if 
he will take the trouble to see exactly what is 

62 



being done, pupils who have passed through the 
woodshops with no apparent growth in ability 
to work solid materials nor with any of the in- 
tellectual growth that should result from a 
thorough and definite study of mechanical sci- 
ence. 

Teacher's Qualifications. 
Closely allied with our duty in criticising the 
work is that of careful scrutiny of the teacher's 
qualifications. As an example, Mr. G se- 
cured a position in one of our largest cities as 
instructor in shopwork in a ward school. He 
was recommended by a school known to sub- 
stantially all educators as a school especially 
qualified to fit pupils for teaching manual train- 
ing. The actual preparation that this teacher 
received was some of the schooFs theories and 
shop practice, consisting of the making a ''plant 
label" and partly making a "plant stick." On 
being asked how he managed to get along on 
such a limited knowledge of tool work, he re- 
plied that for the first three months he watched 
the pupils to see how they did the work. 

The writer's observations confirm the state- 
ment of many practical men that there is alto- 
gether too large a percentage of people in the 
school woodshops who have nothing to teach in 
the line of woodwork and are therefore bluffing 
and trying to make a showing by pointing to 
the design, the art, the "self-activity of the 
pupil" and various other outside matters to 

63 



cover up, their total deficiency in knowledge of 
working materials. 

Another Example. ( 

Again, in a city specially favored with an 
enthusiastic superintendent and plenty of 
means, various systems of manual training were 
supposed to be tried out and conclusions 
reached. The writer, anxious to get the best 
to be had, took occasion to attend as a regular 
pupil the classes of one of the instructors. You 
can imagine the writer's feelings on discovering 
that this teacher, supposed to be at or near the 
top in his line, had never thought of any prin- 
ciples of tool work and was grossly ignorant of 
many simple tool operations. In fact, he had 
literally nothing to teach. At best he had only 
a few muscular movements to go through be- 
fore the class for the pupils to blindly imitate. 
It is no wonder that that city, after a variety 
of such experimenting, should now be trying a 
trade school. It is the duty of some one to 
change this condition. 

Why Trade Schools? 

Should we dig to the bottom of the present 
agitation for a dual system of schools there 
seems little doubt but that we will find the 
cause of the difficulty in the employment of in- 
competent instructors in the shops of the regu- 
lar schools. 

Scattered throughout the country are a few 

64 



teachers who actually know what they are try- 
ing to teach and actually teach it, but mixed 
up with these in all sorts of official relations are 
those who have substantially no knowledge of 
the fundamental principles of working solid 
materials and are therefore putting up all sorts 
of bluffs and makeshifts to take the place of 
actual instruction in mechanical lines. That 
some one has failed to do his duty is plainly 
evident. Our present duty is to take nothing 
for granted and go carefully into the details 
of our school shop work that no one may be 
misjudged. Those doing good work should be 
encouraged and helped to do more and better, 
while those bluffing at the job should be elim- 
inated. 

Duty of Superintendent. 

There are many ways in which the superin- 
tendent of schools can help the manual training 
movement. As most of these officials have had 
no opportunity to study this line of work either 
by actually doing it or teaching it, there is ex- 
ceptional need for school principals that have 
a thorough knowledge both of the theory and 
practice of shop instruction. Therefore the su- 
perintendent has an opportunity to aid much by 
encouraging the school principals to spend the 
necessary time to get a thorough knowledge of 
the work. Also in employing principals he can 
give the preference to candidates satisfactory 
in other respects and up in manual training 

5 65 



work. He will be able to aid very much by 
encouraging all his teachers to get as large an 
understanding of the shop work as their time 
will permit. His chief aid, however, is in help- 
ing to form a healthy public sentiment. 

Basement Shops. 
Wc may all help to get the shops out of the 
dark cellars and basements. It is impossible to 
teach the principles of shop work in a satisfac- 
tory manner unless there is an abundance of 
well diffused light. It is not enough that a 
pupil may be able to see the lines on his work 
by holding it up to the light. In order to learn 
the correct methods of doing the work, the pupil 
must be able to see all the lines definitely with 
the work in proper position on the bench. This 
is impossible with ordinary basement light, and 
especially so where it enters from but one side. 
While a pupil may turn a book about until the 
light is effective, the shop work often cannot 
be thus turned. Everyone having to do with 
the manual training work should aid in creat- 
ing a sentiment that will make the use of an 
improperly lighted basement for shop work en- 
tirely out of the question. If room is insuffi- 
cient and a basement must be used, then use it 
for some class that does not require so much 
light. Other recitations usually require half 
the time and therefore it is a matter of good 
hygiene to use the rooms for such recitations 
as will change the pupils about often, keeping 

66 



one class in the unpleasant surroundings for as 
short a time as possible. With properly con- 
ducted courses, the noise and litter of the wood- 
shop need not hinder its being located in any 
schoolroom. We are rapidly passing from that 
stage in the development of shop work when its 
success is to be measured by the amount of 
noise made and the piles of shavings and ma- 
terials, possibly spoiled pieces littered about the 
room. We have almost reached a point when 
we can say that the actual value of the work 
is inversely as the amount of noise and also 
the quantity of materials used. It is therefore 
true that the school shop has no greater claim 
on us all than to have this fact recognized and 
be placed in a respectable part of the school 
buildings. 

Is the Pupil Thinking? 

Another duty that can be successfully per- 
formed only by those familiar with the educa- 
tional processes and able to judge accurately of 
the intellectual activities of the pupils, as well 
as having an exact knowledge of the shop prob- 
lems, is the careful analysis of the work to de- 
termine whether it is resulting in actual think- 
ing or only in simple perceptions. Is the pupil 
merely receiving, bit by bit, such fragments of 
information as he requires in the making of his 
project or is he forming generalizations and 
learning fundamental principles that he under- 
stands and will be able to apply to other and 

67 



various problems? No more important task is 
before those able to carry on this line of criti- 
cism and no other line of criticism will do so 
much to establish the valuable and eliminate 
the worthless. 

To place correct values on each detail of the 
work, though a matter of no small labor, is also 
a matter of no small importance. It is neither 
just to the shop work nor to* the pupils to per- 
mit extraneous matter to be traded for the real 
values of tool work, nor can we hope to make 
definite progress so long as this substituting is 
permitted. Only by this careful analysis of 
the work and the placing of the true value on 
each part can we hope to strengthen the weak 
places and crowd out or to less important places 
that which is not primarily manual training. 
Today we are religiously holding to certain 
methods of work because in the past they have 
been compared with other even more defective 
and found better. Such a method of elimina- 
tion can lead only to confusion. We should 
rather, however great the task, see that we are 
comparing correct values, or at least not settle 
down to a fixed conviction until such a com- 
parison can be made. Should we undertake 
such a review of our conclusion we may find 
that all the confusion that has been sot charac- 
teristic of the manual training movement has 
been caused by this drawing of conclusions 
from imperfect data, or, in brief, by judging of 

68 



the school work and its possibilities by the work 
of those who have absolutely no knowledge of 
modern mechanical science as exemplified in 
the high type of workmanship found in our 
leading American industries, but who, because 
of ether training, are able to accomplish things 
worthy of our notice however inferior to that 
which is possible by using the subject matter 
properly forming the content of the manual 
training courses. 



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